Cole looked at Alec, breathing heavily and rubbing his thigh. “Lacey’s going to kill us.”
“Not if she’s just as drunk over at your house.”
They made their way downstairs to the kitchen. Cole dropped in a kitchen chair and grimaced.
“You okay, man?”
“Yeah. The leg still throbs sometimes.” He accepted the beer Alec handed him. “I think we did this all wrong. Aren’t we supposed to get plastered at a bachelor party? Why are we sober?”
Alec sat across from him. “I’m not much of a drinker. A beer now and then. There’s still time. Have at it.”
Cole laughed. “I don’t remember the last time I got drunk. Before Iraq, most definitely. Jake had fun. That’s what counts.”
Alec nodded and sipped his beer. They’d taken Jake to a few different men’s clubs, where he’d rejected every stripper and lap dance offered. Giving up, the three of them wound up on the pier with a bottle of Captain, swapping stories. It made Alec wish they’d been closer as kids. Cole was a good guy.
“What do you think about Lacey and Jake? They moved kind of fast.”
Cole tilted his head. “They did. Lacey loves him, that’s what’s important to me. Jake treats her well. He works hard and doesn’t want her for the money. I think he’s had his eye on her for a long time.” He shook his head. “Growing up the way we did, it was hard to know who to trust. Lacey especially had it hard after Dean died. She tried so damn hard to be perfect. Jake brought her out of her bubble. I trust him.”
“Remember when he used to put bullfrogs under her porch swing when we were kids?”
Cole laughed and leaned back, settling in. “Yeah. I remember her squealing most of all. Before they started dating, Jake was here this one day, cutting the grass. Lacey and Mia stared at him through the window for a solid hour, unable to believe he was the gardener’s son all grown up. I almost stomped outside to make him put a shirt on, until I realized the old Lacey wouldn’t have done that before. Stared at the help, I mean.”
Alec didn’t have any more reservations about his brother marrying Lacey. Covington or not, she and Cole were good people. “So, you and Mia? Never thought I’d see the day. You were hung up on each other as teenagers, if memory serves.”
Cole’s gaze wandered off. “I was all kinds of messed up before she came back. I don’t think I ever stopped thinking about her. Not for a day.” He shrugged. “Just meant to be.”
Meant to be. Alec rolled the phrase around in his head, dissecting the meaning. If he followed that thought train, everything from Laura’s accident to meeting Faith would’ve been in fate’s hands, making them just putty with which to play.
He set his beer down. Picked at the label. “How did you know? With Mia, I mean.”
A ghost of a smile traced Cole’s lips. “I always knew. And the fact that you’re asking means you know, too. You could do worse than falling for Faith.”
Alec drew in a breath and shoved the bottle aside. “Seeing as you’re my agent now, there’s some things you ought to know.”
Being his agent was only part of the reason, but Alec told Cole everything. The miscarriage, the accident. Telling Cole didn’t rip his heart out like it had with Faith, no doubt because the more he talked about it, the easier it got. Plus, Faith had a personal, vested interest in his past, whereas Cole was a friend. Alec’s mistakes didn’t affect him the way they did Faith.
When Alec was through, Cole set his hands on the table between them and leaned on his forearms. “Christ. So she’s still in the care facility?”
He nodded.
“Are you her legal guardian?”
Alec took a healthy swig before answering. “No. That would be her parents. Back then we didn’t think about living wills.” He stared at the table. “She wouldn’t have wanted to live like that.”
“Have you tried contesting the guardianship?”
“Laura was an only child. She’s all they have left. I can’t take her from them a second time.”
Cole was silent for so long that Alec was forced to look up. What he found in Cole’s eyes was a near reflection of his own pain.
In a move that seemed involuntary, Cole rubbed his shoulder. “I created and toppled a series of dominoes that led to my brother’s car accident. Years later, in Iraq, I was the only survivor when my unit drove over an IED. I get the guilt, I do. But their deaths weren’t on my head any more than hers is on yours. It took Mia for me to see that.”
Alec nodded. “I know. Somewhere in the back of my head, I know that. But I couldn’t live with myself if I completely moved on.” Not that he was doing a bang-up job of living with himself currently. “What kind of a man would that make me?”
“It would make you human.”
Alec pressed his palms to his eyes, but the pounding in his head continued. The visions of Laura were still there. Laura, pale and shaking after the miscarriage. Laura, flailing her arms and yelling as she stormed out the door. Laura, lying in a hospital bed looking like death . . .
His gut turned to ice.
“For the record, I don’t believe she’s living anymore, Alec. You wouldn’t be leaving her. You’d be letting her go.”
Cole’s argument had merit, as did Jake’s. It had for a long, long time. But they didn’t have to wake up every morning and look at Alec’s face in the mirror.
* * *
The wedding had gone off without a hitch, as Faith had expected. The groomsmen were handsome in their khaki pants and white button-down shirts. The bridesmaids carried white lilies and offered a splash of color in their dresses. Lacey shined in her simple, elegant gown. Jake hadn’t taken his eyes off her for a second.
They’d taken pictures at sunset and cut the cake as the first stars twinkled overhead. To accommodate the fifty or so guests, a tent was set up down the beach with ten round tables decorated with a floating candle and sea grass stems. Alec and Cole had given a perfect toast, and Mia helped Ginny say a few words, earning immense applause.
The heat of the day had cooled and a gentle breeze off the ocean brushed over Faith’s skin where she sat at one of the tables, watching the first dance. She smoothed the skirt of her mint-green dress, glad Mia had talked her into it. It was pretty flattering on her thin frame.
“Stupid hormones.” Mia fanned her face, but her eyes misted over anyway.
Faith’s cheeks actually ached from smiling so much, not that she planned on stopping. “It’s okay to cry at weddings. Everyone does. Besides, look at them.”
Jake and Lacey danced with their foreheads together, grinning like fools in love.
“I still think it’s the hormones. I hope the whole damn pregnancy isn’t like this.”
Cole laughed and draped his arm around her shoulders. “I love you. And I’ll buy stock in tissues.”
Faith sipped her champagne, throat tight with her own tears. She was so happy for her friends and so brokenhearted for herself. The onslaught of emotion was like a hurricane. Alec hadn’t actually said when he’d be leaving, but she knew it would be soon. He’d been pensive all week. Contemplative and quiet—not quite broody enough to distance himself, but the shift was obvious.
Their time was almost up.
The first dance ended and everyone cheered. The band started an upbeat song, a country tune she didn’t recognize, and it had Ginny bouncing on her toes.
“Can I dance now? Can I?”
Mia grinned. “You go ahead, pretty girl. We’ll be right there.”
“Faith, come on!”
Faith turned in her seat to look at Alec.
He nodded. A faint smile tilted his lips, but it didn’t reach his eyes.
Faith followed Ginny to the makeshift dance floor, set on the beach between the tent and the bar, and laughed when Lacey threw her hands in the air. The two of them, ridiculous and carefree, encouraged her to be the same. Why not? Fun was fun.